LDS a cult? 350,000 DVDs try to shake Mormons' faith

Evangelicals leave discs on Utahns' doors; the church says the film distorts its doctrine

The Salt Lake Tribune/March 28, 2007
By Peggy Fletcher Stack

Evangelical Christians claimed they distributed 350,000 anti-Mormon
DVDs in Utah on Sunday, hoping to convince members of The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that the church is a non-Christian
cult.

They said they gave out another 150,000 across the U.S. and Canada -
about a half-million altogether.

Hundreds of volunteers placed the discs, which feature a picture of
the church founder Joseph Smith and the Salt Lake temple, on doorknobs
in a white plastic bag that said, "Good News for LDS." Others handed
out the bags after Monday night's Jazz game in downtown Salt Lake
City. Some confused it with the LDS Church's own promotional material
rather than seeing the DVD as a critique of Mormon beliefs.

The door-to-door approach was part of the plan hatched by a group of
Christians in 2005, said Chip Thompson, director of Tri-Grace
Ministries in Ephraim, who helped with the distribution. He would not
say who funded the project, only that it was written and produced by
LaBarge Media near Rochester, N.Y.

"What inspired this was all the hype surrounding the celebration of
Joseph Smith's 200th birthday," Thompson said Tuesday. "A lot of us
viewed the information put out by the church as being pretty incorrect
and only part of the story. The other parts were not being told at
all."

Christian critics of the LDS Church decided to produce a
professionally crafted tell-all film, Thompson said, to lay out their
concerns about Mormonism - including Smith's claims about the Book of
Mormon and other sacred Mormon texts and his involvement with
polygamy. It asks viewers to compare Smith with Jesus Christ, and
Mormonism with traditional Christian beliefs.

"The information in the video is all documented Mormon history," said
Thompson, who also directs the Solid Rock Christian Fellowship at Snow
College. "Nothing was fabricated."

The LDS Church and Mormon scholars disagree. Even some traditional
Christians, who also reject LDS teachings, see the new effort as
counterproductive to their outreach to Mormons.

"The accusations, innuendo and mischaracterizations portrayed in the
video are divisive and hurtful to open dialogue and conversation," LDS
spokesman Scott Trotter said. "It does not accurately represent the
life of Joseph Smith or the doctrine and history of the church. Either
deliberately or out of ignorance, the video ignores volumes of
scholarly work which address the concerns raised. These criticisms are
old and long-ago asked and answered."

LDS researchers and scholars at The Foundation for Apologetic
Information & Research (FAIR) have issued a point-for-point rebuttal
of the film's main arguments.

"Rather than focus on what they believe, the video's producers have
taken it upon themselves to describe and interpret LDS beliefs and
teachings, often in ways that would be objectionable or unrecognizable
to Latter-day Saints," said Scott Gordon, president of FAIR.

The film includes parts of the church's temple ceremonies, which
Mormons never discuss outside the sanctuary, Gordon said. "They offend
us and then ask us to join them? They don't understand us at all."

As a student at Salt Lake Theological Seminary, John Morehead knows
traditional Christianity. He also has been involved in religious
dialogue with Mormons and vehemently opposes this DVD strategy.

"It's mean-spirited and nasty," Morehead said. "Any Mormon who does
look at it will be turned off."

And it won't likely have the desired result: throngs of LDS faithful
leaving the fold.

Morehead notes that a widely promoted film, The Godmakers," which laid
out Mormon beliefs in simplistic and sensationalistic ways, made no
dent in Mormon proselytizing. And this one is just "Godmakers" with
better production values.

Instead of attacking LDS beliefs, he said, "we have to find common
ground and recognize the positive in each side. We have to demonstrate
compassion."

Thompson insists, however, that this method is working. The group has
received dozens of calls to the hot line it posted on the bags.

"Lots of people are asking for more information," he said.

In December, organizers brought the completed film to Utah, where
dozens of Christian pastors previewed it and offered to distribute it.
They agreed not to tell any Mormons what they were doing.

"Mormon leaders often tell their people not to watch media produced
outside the church, and the people blindly obey," Thompson said. "The
secrecy was practical. We wanted people to decide for themselves."

Joe Wren, a South Ogden Mormon, was among the thousands who found a
white bag on a doorknob. After viewing the film and realizing its
purpose, he walked his Shadow Valley neighborhood and saw scores of
white bags but no volunteers to discuss the issues with him. No one
had knocked on his door, either.

"I found it distasteful - not to mention an extremely un-Christian
tactic of being so sneaky and underhanded," Wren said. "It's amazing
they'd stoop to that level."

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